How To: Decode a 3rd-party H.26x Video Stream on USP (AVPro Flow)

How To: Decode a 3rd-party H.26x Video Stream on USP (AVPro Flow)

The below is assuming you have a fully configured and operational MXnet USP system. If you have not already configured your network switch and setup endpoints please do so before continuing.

This guide is applicable for the following products:
  1. AC-MXNET-USP-ES
  2. AC-MXNET-USP-PL
  3. AC-MXNET-USP-PR
  4. AC-MXNET-CBOX-HA (USP Mode)

System Design

Before adding in a external stream to be decoded by USP, we first need to understand the two types of system designs that can exist. 

Design #1: the 3rd-party device exists within the AV LAN alongside USP endpoints
Design #2: the 3rd-party devices exists in the Control/IT LAN, not in the same network as USP endpoints. This requires the use of the CBOX Media Bridge functionality.

CBOX Media Bridge

The CBOX Media Bridge allows AV streams to cross between the AV LAN and Control/IT LAN. The CBOX acts as a mediator and translates streams between subnets, simplifying network topologies and 3rd-party device interoperability. 

Adding an External H.26x Stream

Info
The 3rd-party device must be able to encode an open-standard H.265 or H.264 stream using RTSP to be decoded by the CBOX/USP endpoint.
  1. In Mentor, navigate to the Configure tab.
  2. Click the Add/Edit External Source button, above and to the right of the displayed table of endpoints.

  3. Fill out the following fields:
    1. Custom Name: a name used to easily identify the device. Examples are "Lobby-Camera" or "1stFloorPTZ".
    2. Model Name: the part number or brand of the product.
    3. Stream URL: the media stream (commonly RTSP)that is generated by the 3rd-party device. Example: rtsp://10.10.10.10:554/stream/main
    4. Location: tells the CBOX whether the 3rd-party stream exists in the AV LAN or the Control/IT LAN. If the device exists in the Control/IT LAN then Media Bridge will be used.
    5. Authentication: If the device stream requires a username or password, enable the toggle switch and enter in the credentials.
    6. Click the Save button to add the device into Mentor. Repeat this process for any additional 3rd-party AV streams you wish to add.

  4. Close the pop-up window when finished and click the Refresh button in Mentor for the device(s) to appear in the encoder list.

Routing External Streams

Once you have added all external devices/streams into Mentor, navigate to the Auto-Matrix page. All external streams/devices will appear in the Inputs list. You can then click and route these streams to any USP decoders in the system.
External devices/streams can also be routed via the existing video routing API commands such as "config set device videopath {EncoderID} {DecoderID}" or "matrix aset :v {EncoderID/DecoderID}". Simply replace the {EncoderID} parameter with the Custom Name of the external device/stream.
Example: matrix aset :v EntranceCamera Lobby-TV